A Tale of Two Girls
Happy Monday everyone. I hope some of you reading this got the chance to see the Blood Moon last night. I sadly did not. The sky was too damn cloudy! I would have loved to have witnessed that.
Onto today’s concept: duality. If you are interested in spirituality, this is a term you will often come across. Duality is shown in yin and yang, the sun and the moon, dark and light, white and black. But duality comes into play in aspects of ourselves, our relationship with ourselves, and our relationships with others. Our ego versus our shadow self represent the duality of our conscious self versus our unconscious self. This is another commonly talked about topic, and, in fact, shadow work is a commonly used modality in spiritual practice.
The ego is our identity. We essentially program ourselves to be certain way, look a certain way, think a certain way, all in efforts of creating an identity for ourselves that we consciously approve of. In the process, we suppress any aspects of ourselves that we deem unacceptable and that do not coincide with our self-inflicted identity.
We also suppress belief systems or thought patterns that create a cognitive dissonance, that is: two conflicting thoughts that cannot coincide. For example, someone who holds government in the highest esteem who discovers unsettling information, such as discovering conflicting information regarding JFK’s medical reports, may simply brush this information aside because it goes against his higher belief that the government is well-meaning and good. In his mind, the government is not capable of committing such an act. Make sense? We create our mold, which is the ego, and anything that does not fit this mold simply cannot fit. But where does this information go?
Any aspects of ourselves or beliefs or thoughts that were shoved away and suppressed are melded into the shadow aspect of ourselves. The ego is the yang, the sun, the Divine Masculine, God, and the light. The shadow is the yin, the moon, the Divine Feminine, the Goddess, the hidden, the dark, and the occult. For those who are on a spiritual journey, shadow aspects will surface, and we can choose to deal with these issues or suppress them once again. In my experience, I have tried to transform and transmute these energies. I remember in my last few months of senior year of college last year, I would have moments seemingly out of nowhere where I would be overcome with an intense emotion to cry uncontrollably. I would journal these moments to try and make sense of it. As a result, many unresolved issues surfaced. I started remembering things that had happened to me that I had not fully dealt with. It was therapeutic and a necessity for me on my journey.
If this is a new concept to you and you are on a spiritual journey, see how your body resonates with the idea of shadow work. If you feel like it is your time to look into this matter, I highly encourage you to do so! Anyone can do shadow work. I did most of my shadow work without realizing what it was. I only in the past few months discovered the terminology for it. Meaning, this is a natural step. There are many different approaches to shadow work, so do some research or just listen to your body to see what works best. For me at first, it was a whole lot of crying, journaling, and talking to others and myself. Now, my ADHD diagnosed mind is constantly churning with information and monitoring of my thoughts. I am in constant conversation with my Higher Self. I still journal, and this blog is also a method of shadow work for me. Whatever method(s) you vibe with, you are dealing with the rejected aspects of yourself.
Another tidbit to be conscious of is when we place judgment on others. These are actually judgments against ourselves of aspects we have suppressed! I caught myself doing this yesterday. I judged a girl for being standoffish, but when in reality, I was actually noticing her leadership abilities and recognizing that suppressed aspect in myself. On my path right now, I am in a place where I am trying to just figure it all out. This girl had it more figured out than me, was what I was really thinking.
At the end of that thought on first draft, I was at exactly 1111 words, a word count I never check but which just so happened to catch my eye. Along with that, the only time I checked the clock today was at 11:11. I am liking this. Synchronicities are just self-produced and universal signs that we are on the right track. All is well. I have recently had a thing with 11:11. My eye would catch the clock at 11:10, 11:12, 11:13, but never quite 11:11. I pondered whether that meant I was “almost there.”
To finish my earlier thoughts on shadow work, whenever we conversely admire someone or place them on a pedestal, we are also noticing those suppressed aspects of ourselves. Think now of why you like a certain celebrity or historical figure. Your reasons will ultimately be about things in them you see in yourself.
As we grow and change along our spiritual journey, we are really just peeling back the layers of the universal onion, bringing light to dark, recognizing the suppressed and transmuting the energies. We are returning to our true self, our inner child, our Higher Self, the I Am, the creator beings we all are. YOU are powerful, and YOU have the power to manifest your heart’s desires. Search within.
Let your aura shine brightly, and be a beacon of light to the world. Just by being you, by being that ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, you are bringing peace on Earth. You are open to receiving all the abundance of the universe.
I love you all dearly!
Samantha <3
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